My latest novel comes out this Thursday, December 8th -- so here's
a short excerpt (namely the prologue).
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The ultimate sweepstakes, or an elaborate
prank? A monumental research project, or a diabolical temptation, or both at
once? Opinions differed greatly; but millions of people were willing, for
whatever combination of reasons, to take part.
After all, one need only choke down an
unpleasant quantity of colorless viscous liquid, and then submit to a series of
scans (if indeed any scanning took place) over an eight hour period, in order
to receive one’s initial payment. The sum, always in the local currency, would
more than cover a dinner and a show, or a bowl of hashish, or a prostitute. And
supposedly the nanoparticles (if there were any) would exit the body within a
day or two.
Those who believed, or did not entirely
discount, the asserted goals of the research would then enter their contact
information in the growing database. If they wished, they could return for new
scanning sessions once a month, to keep the recorded information current, and
receive another (smaller) payment each time.
After that, it was just a matter of which
lucky participants would die first.
The first few to be successfully revived
in virtual form would achieve both historical and digital immortality, while
their conventionally surviving families would become wealthy overnight—wealthy
enough to join their pioneering loved ones, whenever their own time came. For
of course, once testing was complete, those who sought digital revival after
death would be paying, not paid.
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And because I'm still in love with it, here's the cover again.
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